Other Men

ANKARA — Missing footballer Christian Atsu was scheduled to fly out of southern Turkey hours before last week's devastating earthquake, but Hatayspor's manager said the Ghanaian opted to stay with the club after scoring a winning goal in their Feb. 5 Super Lig match.

"Atsu wanted to play more and asked for permission from his coach to leave if he wasn't going to get it," Hatayspor manager Fatih Ilek told a radio channel on Friday.

"He bought a ticket to fly to Istanbul, and from there to France. He was going to look for a club to get more playing time."

AC Milan marked their long-awaited return to the UEFA Champions League knockout stages with an important 1-0 victory vs. Tottenham at the San Siro on Tuesday in leg one of the Round of 16 matchup.

The game-winning goal came as early as the seventh minute when Brahim Díaz bundled the ball into Spurs’ net.

With Hugo Lloris out with a knee injury Fraser Forster filled in between the posts for Tottenham. Moments before the Milan goal the 34-year-old keeper produced an incredible double-save.

Czech Republic international Jakub Jankto announced on Monday that he is gay, saying he wants to live his life “in freedom.”

Jankto, who plays for Sparta Prague on loan from LaLiga side Getafe, made his international debut in 2017.

The 27-year-old, who has 45 caps, is the highest profile current male footballer to publicly come out as gay.

Holders Rangers moved into the quarterfinals of the Scottish Cup with a controversial 3-2 victory over Partick Thistle on Sunday in which they had to "gift" their opponents a goal.

Thistle's players were left apoplectic at Ibrox when Rangers player Malik Tillman put his side 2-1 ahead in dubious circumstances deemed unsportsmanlike.

Fulham continue to impress in their return to the Premier League after defeating Nottingham Forest 2-0 on Saturday for the team’s tenth EPL win this season. When the Cottagers were relegated in the 2020-21 season, they only recorded five league victories.

Saturday’s win saw another great shift from American defenders Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson. The American duo have become a wall on Fulham’s left side and kept the seventh clean sheet on the season.

The Brazilian Football Association (CBF) will wait until the end of the 2022-23 European season to fill the vacant Brazil manager position with Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti their main target.

Following the exit of manager Tite after their World Cup quarterfinal penalty defeat by Croatia, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues told a news conference in November that he wanted to find his replacement between January and February.